Tonight at the weekly Banned! Night event, the amount of people in the crowd seems a little depleted than its usual intake of alternative music fans. Will this have an affect on the performance with the band’s tonight?

First band on the bill I Left You For Summer (****) from Holmes Chapel take to the stage, and start blitzing into their set almost immediately. The band may only have a few songs to present in their arsenal, and are still just a young band on the scene at the moment, but they execute each song with finesse. Frontman Rob Scrannage and bassist Nick Barlow are throwing themselves about both on and off the stage, with such hostility that at one point a member of the audience ran past with her hands over her head. Their set, consisting of ‘Redrum Is Murder Backwards’ and ‘Midnight In A Dream’, may have been a short-lived one, but one of energy and passion.

Next band up on the night’s schedule is SFR (***) from Cheshire, who weren’t quite as active and mobile as the previous act. Pretty new on the whole local Banned! Night gig scene, SFR performed just to make sure they get it out there, without making too many risky moves that could jeopardise this. Not the most exciting act to ever be on the stage, but by no means the worst either, making the few people that did go up to watch them play have a little dance and enjoy themselves.

Final band Minions Of Jeffrey (***) from Bolton looked a bit cramped onstage, and arguably a little uncomfortable with the small amount of space they had too, often hiding a few members behind others. Despite this, the eight-piece managed to play a set full of confidence and style with songs such as ‘M60 Ringroad’ and ‘The Witchdoctor’, combining the power of two trumpets into the alternative music approach to offer something tha’s not a regular occurrence in the halls of Winnington Rec. Frontmen Matt and Ste may have dressed in completely different outfits from one another (one in a suit and the other in a tracksuit), but with their level teamwork why would looks matter.

Regardless to the amount of people that showed up, the band’s that played were of a decent quality, and treated those who came along to the show. Let’s hope that next week a few more people don’t miss out.